Queenstown hits record first quarter guest nights

Queenstown, New Zealand (12 May
2014) - Queenstown has hit record guest nights for
the first three months of the year, with a total of 877,416
guest nights for the period January – March 2014,
according to the Statistics New Zealand’s Commercial
Accommodation Monitor (CAM) released today.

Following
Queenstown’s record year in 2013 when it experienced its
highest guest nights ever, the upward trend is continuing
with January, February and March 2014 all experiencing
higher guest nights than prior year.

The
CAM for March 2014 reveals that total guest nights rose 5.2
percent on March 2013 to 268,443 (an increase of 13,305
guest nights) and the average length of stay also increased
from 2.27 nights to 2.56 nights.

International guest
nights for March 2014 were up 7.3 percent to 181,389 and
domestic nights also showed growth, up 1.2 percent to
87,054.

For the year ended March 2014 compared with the
previous year, the pattern was repeated with guest nights
rising 9 percent to 2,837,396 and average length of stay up
from 2.52 nights to 2.63 nights for the 12 month
period.

Destination Queenstown CEO Graham Budd said the
record quarter was great news and it was exciting to see the
trend of growth continuing.

“Feedback from our members
had indicated a strong January, February and March and it
certainly felt busy and vibrant on the streets of Queenstown
and around the region. It’s very pleasing to see the
positive growth of 2013 continuing in 2014 – the March
result is particularly pleasing given that the Easter
holiday fell during March in 2013 but not until mid April
this year.

“It is also encouraging to see length of stay
increasing as that is directly in line with Destination
Queenstown’s strategy of attracting longer staying
visitors,” said Mr Budd.

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